Are crows pushing out the song birds?

[sarahb9214]

An idea that i have hypothesized, is that the crows in my area are pusing out the small, timy song birds. Lately there has been an ambundance of crows and the song birds are only heard a few times a week. Does anyone know about this topic, and do you think this would be a good science fair topic?

[deleted-71827]

Hi Sarah!
This might be an interesting example of a concept called ecological niches. Basically, the songbirds which used to occupy the area may find themselves outcompeted by crows. This leads to a decrease in the songbird population. This is the general guide to choosing an appropriate topic-
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tion.shtml
Feel free to post back with any further ideas about your project, good luck!

[MelissaB]

I just have a couple of things to add to that--first, keep in mind the time of year. Most songbirds do not sing much in fall/winter because they are finished breeding and no longer need to defend territories. Also, crows can and do eat songbird chicks and eggs, so it may be more of a question of predation rather than competition. Finally, the songbirds may be present but not actually singing to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

All that said, I think you could do a great project about this. Try setting up a bird feeder in an area with crows and another one in an area that's very similar but doesn't have as many crows. Then watch the feeders, and count numbers (and, if you can, species) of birds that come to these feeders. Also keep an eye on the crows and see if they are harassing the birds coming to the feeders.

Let us know if you need any additional help!